Industrial-type vehicles, or vehicles used in an industrial environment, are subject to very hard, continuous, and often abusive use. As a consequence, the vehicles are often more in need of maintenance than many other types of equipment. Thus, it is advantageous for such vehicles that the engine be easily accessible so that a maintenance worker can access virtually all parts of the engine and other components of the industrial vehicle.
The prior art has taught swing-out mounting arrangements for engines whereby the engine and accessories are rotated outward from the vehicle into a more accessible position for maintenance. For example, Knowlton et al., (U.S. Pat. No. 5,346,034) discloses a sweeper vehicle having an engine mounting arrangement that permits the engine and most of its accessories to be pivoted out of the engine compartment to a position in which there is ready access to the rear side of the engine and its accessories, thereby facilitating inspection, cleaning, and maintenance of the engine. In the vehicle engine mounting system in Knowlton et al., the engine is rotated outward about one vertical axis. Thus, items on the engine adjacent the pivot axis such as the radiator, are not rotated outward, but remain within the engine compartment during rotation of the engine. There is a need for a more convenient manner of accessing an engine within a compartment so that all parts of the engine can be easily accessed for maintenance, cleaning, or inspection.
Other prior art engine mounts also utilize a single vertical axis about which an engine mount is rotated. For example, U.S. Pat. No. 5,419,131 to Doppstadt discloses a power unit mounted at a support frame that is pivotably mounted about a single pivot axis for ease of service and maintenance. Similarly, U.S. Pat. No. 4,770,427 to Howell et al. discloses an aircraft loader having an engine mounted on a frame that is pivotally mounted about a single axis for service. Howell et al. solves the problem of access to the portion of the engine adjacent to the pivot axis by providing a shrouding that extends across one side of the engine and across the rear. Removing the shrouding allows access to the portion of the engine adjacent the pivot axis. Although the removable shrouding is a convenient manner of providing access to additional portions of the engine, at least a portion of the engine remains within the enclosure. Moreover, this solution is not available for an engine which is mounted in the center of an industrial vehicle.
In summary, the prior art does not disclose a manner in which an engine can be rotated outward from an enclosure and in which the portion of the engine adjacent to the pivot axis can be easily accessed. There is a need for an engine mount which solves these problems.